Rob Carnell, analyst at ING Financial Markets, said the reaction of the three-month Libor rates - at which banks lend to each other - would determine whether the measures announced by the US government were successful or not.

"Today's moves bring the US into line with the UK and Europe, and provide a solid global approach to the financial market crisis. Encouragingly, three-month interbank rates declined for the second day running. This, and other measures of financial sector distress, is how we will be able to judge the success or otherwise of the current measures over coming weeks and months."

David Resler, the chief economist at Nomura Securities, said the US package had reassured the markets that the financial system would not be left to collapse.

"Clearly the markets are relieved by these actions," he said. "Everybody in these markets had come to the realisation you needed to have something radical to restore trust and confidence among banks. Many of the banks weren't real keen on taking this capital infusion from the government, but they recognised it had to be all or none.

"We're in a period of economic stagnation and contraction, it's probably going to last another few months and into next year, but at the same time this is happening we should be a little encouraged by the drop of oil prices we've had recently."

Subodh Kumar, a strategist at Subdoh Kumar & Associates, said there was likely to still be some volatility ahead but a slow recovery should be on the cards in the near future.

"I think the markets will continue to show recovery today, though maybe not at the same rate as yesterday. Volatility going forward is likely to continue. Also, these capital injections come at a cost. Credit is still clearly not freely available. It's possible or likely that the Friday numbers were the low, but I'll leave calling that a bottom to others.

"I think a major fear people had was that this would become political, but because it is a global move, there is clearly no political agenda."

Robert Andres, strategist at Portfolio Management Consultants, was less optimistic about the effect the rescue package would have.

"This is still 'whack-a-mole.' They sold this to the public so poorly. This one-a-day pill is insanity. This does not instill confidence. Now they are giving the money to the banks and some of them didn't want it. They have taken us away from the risk of a systemic collapse, but it could be managed better. Everything seems reactionary and random.

"They need to explain to the public why credit and liquidity are important. Liquidity is synonymous with confidence. Everything is frozen without confidence."

He said the government should introduce a massive fiscal package that creates jobs and invests in infrastructure. "Right now the public are not getting the bang for their dollars. We are spending a lot of empty calories which are not going to create a lot of jobs."

Jim Awad, the chairman of WP Stewart & Co, said the bank plan was another step in the right direction.

"The markets have been looking for it and they're reacting positively to it," he said. "I expect it to add to the series of efforts that will add stability to the financial and credit markets, but it's important to not get overly euphoric, because we still have to enforce it. It's like, if someone has a heart attack, they can't go out jogging the next day. I would put the financial system on the rehabilitation stage. There's been damage done."

Kevin Logan, economist at Dresdner Kleinwort said: "One of the important things is guaranteeing bank debt. It will have an immediate impact - banks have not been able to roll over their debt recently and that compromises or interferes with their funding and makes them less secure overall and it is a downward spiral. So by guaranteeing the debt, they will now be able to roll over debt and that will keep them funded. So that immediately alleviates a lot of the problems."